War of the Giants
The War of the Giants was a conflict that centered around the Giants of the world. Fought from 1138 to 1308, the 170 year war engulfed almost the entire Eurasian continent, and to an extent part of the African continent. Tension that built up between the Peaceful Giants and Barbaric Giants finally broke when, after generations of atrocities and exploitation at the hands of the Barbaric Giants, the Peaceful Giants decided the time had come to rise up against the Barbaric Giants and end the "reign of the warmongers" once and for all. The War ended with one final, climactic battle between the assembled Peaceful Giant forces and those of the Barbaric and Warrior Giants; the Peaceful Giants forced the Barbaric Giants and Warrior Giants to retreat in what has come to be known as the Fight to the North. The end of the war was celebrated by humans and Giants alike; and unprecedented age of peace followed the end of the war, now that Barbaric tribes of giants no longer traveled the world attacking and pillaging everything in their path. ORIGINS: The Barbaric Giants hungered for war, and their culture was dominated by the idea of The Seven Paths; the reasons why a tribe goes to war. Many tribes of barbaric giants traveled the world, searching for targets ripe for attacking. The Peaceful Giant settlements were obvious targets; between the higher quality goods their craftsmen made and their plentiful harvests, food and supplies for barbaric giants would be plentiful. Thus, the Peaceful Giant tribes found themselves at the mercy of Barbaric Giants; it was either provide food and supplies, or face death and destruction. Even after paying tribute, many tribes would still be attacked by the Barbarians anyway. Other Barbaric tribes, so confident in their abilities to extort the Peaceful Giants, established settlements that overlooked Peaceful Giant settlements, and leached of the Peaceful Giants harvests. Most tribes of Peaceful Giants could not fight back; they were farmers and Craftsmen, not soldiers. Only the largest of tribes had some sort of army within their society. The worst case was the Peaceful Giant Settlement of Agraria, 6 barbaric tribes leached off this ripe farming village, and extorted them immensely. The War of the Giants started when this village rose up, and decided to finally fight back against the savages that plagued them for so long. THE WAR BEGINS: Traveling to locate the Sudrian Colormen, the Peaceful Giants begged them for help, as they were the only humans that did not see the mythical creatures as monsters. After some talking, they agreed to assist the Peaceful Giants in their quest for freedom from the barbaric savages that leeched off them. The first fight proved to be a decisive victory- all the warriors from the six tribes that leeched off Agraria were killed; leaving only the women, children and elders alive. They were warned to leave and never return to Agraria again. The stubbornness of these tribes was their downfall, they refused to leave their settlements, but without the food from Agraria, they perished in the winters that followed. From here, the Colormen and Peaceful Giant tribes spread out; determined to unite the Peaceful Giant tribes against the barbaric scourge that had existed for too long. WAR CONTINUES: More and more Peaceful Giant tribes rose up against the barbaric oppressors; smaller tribes united under bigger ones, and nomadic tribes settled into larger villages in order to unite under one cause. The strategy for the combined Peaceful Giants/Colormen force was simple but effective- by killing the warriors of the barbaric tribes in battle, and only the warriors, this left the rest of the tribe members defenseless. Refusing to stoop to the level of the barbarians, they showed mercy to those warriors who surrendered (which was rare), and would not do anything bad to the remaining tribe members. Simply, they were given a choice- leave the Peaceful Giant settlements alone if they chose to stay there, or go away and find another place to live. The strategy proved effective; within the first 60 years all major peaceful giant settlements had been liberated from Barbaric Giant oppression. FINAL THIRD OF THE WAR: For reasons that aren't quite clear, the Warrior Giants were drawn into the war towards the last 50 years. The Peaceful Giants, with the gifts of knowledge granted to them by the Colormen, were able to create higher quality weapons and armor than the barbaric giants and warrior giants, and thus the Colormen were able to step back and fight in more of an assistance and advisory roll than an active offensive roll. Some tribes began deviating from the set plan and there were rare cases when entire tribes would be wiped out; but in these cases when chiefs found out about these attacks, the commanders were stripped of their ranks and forced to fight as ordinary foot soldiers. The warrior giants put up a tougher fight than the barbarian giants; but in the end the superior weaponry of the Peaceful Giants proved to be a key factor in the Peaceful Giant's triumph. FINAL FIGHT: In a desperate last attempt to fight back, the surviving barbaric and warrior tribes came together and fought as one giant force against the assembled Peaceful Giant/Colormen alliance. In a final, gigantic clash that lasted many days, the barbaric and warrior giants "lost four men for every Peaceful Giant Warrior that fell" and in the end, the barbarians were forced to back off not because they were tired, but because their lower quality weapons kept breaking and forcing withdrawals to rearm. Furthermore, a lack of established command structure and tensions among the barbaric tribes lead to them fighting each other as much as they fought the Peaceful Giants. AFTERMATH: An unparalleled age of peace followed the end of the war; with barbaric giant raids no longer plaguing the continent settlements were able to flourish and once isolated kingdoms were able to finally connect with others. As a species, the Giants population had been severely reduced- prior to the war, there were 85 tribes of Peaceful Giants; now there were 83. Peaceful Giant deaths were estimated at around 4,000 across the 170 years. The Barbaric Giants were reduced from 189 tribes to 72 tribes by the end of the final battle, the 23 years of living in the frozen north reduced their numbers to just 5 tribes and 300 giants. The Warrior Giants were reduced from 55 tribes to 49 tribes by the end of the final battle; the 23 years of living in the frozen north reduced their numbers to just 12 tribes and 1700 giants. No one is sure how many barbaric and warrior giants died; all that is known is that "many thousands" died in the 170 year war, and that "more barbaric and warrior giants died in the 23 years of living in the frozen north than in the 170 years of war". The Peaceful Giants were forever grateful to the Colormen, for coming to their aid in their time of need and for seeing them as fellow creatures rather than monsters. The 23 years of peace that followed were a time of great prosperity and unity; as the barbaric giant raids no longer wrecked havoc on human and giant settlements alike.